The Spaces Between Seconds
by Sada Green
Summary: Daryl's crossbow clattered to the ground and his eyes… Rick thought the only way to describe it was that the man had seen a ghost. D/OC
1. Chapter 1

Before the world went to shit, Rick Grimes was a man who knew what life was all about. It wasn't about the job, the money, duty, or honor. It wasn't the size of his house or the Jamaican vacation that he could never quite manage to afford. It was family. It was those little moments, so rare and fleeting, that muted the background noise, faded everything around you to gray and made your eyes sting and your heart clench. It was the sight of Lori, young and beautiful, standing in white at the end of the aisle. Cradling baby Carl in his arms for the first time. Holding his father's hand as the cancer took him from this world. Rick knew that even before the end of the world, those moments were few and far between, that you couldn't blink or you'd miss them. Now they were even rarer. Precious treasures never to be taken for granted.

Rick had bore witness to a few of these moments over the last two years. He'd even had a couple of them himself. But this, this completely bewildering, unexpected scene unfolding before him now was hands down the best. He stood to the side, giving them their privacy, fading to gray with the background like he was supposed to.

He felt a bit foolish that he hadn't seen it before. Daryl had never said a word but in hindsight, the signs were all there. Rick remembered overhearing Carol proposition him one night at the prison, but Daryl had shrugged her off without thinking twice. Thinking back, Rick couldn't remember Daryl ever showing interest in any of the women in their group. Rick had dismissed it, attributing it to Daryl's gruff personality and obvious aversion to intimacy. He assumed Daryl had his reasons, and it wasn't a topic Rick had wasted much thought on. But now, Rick realized he had been seeing the pieces of a puzzle and now those pieces were coming together.

The last twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind. He and his people had been launched from one extreme to another, hopeless, thirsty and starving one moment and the next cradled in the relative safety of Alexandria. Though they were all on edge, slow to trust, it was undeniable that their circumstances had vastly improved. Deanna and her people had welcomed them, given them shelter and they began to acclimate to their surroundings. The tiny woman had appeared on their doorstep this morning, offering a guided tour of the facilities. She was eager for them to assimilate and Rick and Daryl had taken her up on the opportunity to get the lay of the land.

Daryl had followed a few steps behind Rick, taking it all in with his usual silence, no doubt drawing a map of the place in his head. Rick nodded to Deanna as she explained the uses of the various buildings and the systems devised to keep the community running.

"The garden is just up here on the left," she was saying, "Most everyone has at least a small garden in their own yard, but this one feeds the whole community. Anna's in charge and she's been a godsend."

Daryl's steps faltered and Rick spared a glance back at his friend. Daryl's scowl had deepened but he gave Rick a nod to say it was nothing to worry about. They rounded a row of houses and suddenly the gardens sprawled before them, rows and rows of meticulously tended vegetables and herbs with a few fruit tree saplings growing in the back. A little greenhouse sat in one corner of the plot and they could see the vague shadow of someone working inside.

"Anna, you in there?" Deanna called out as they drew closer.

"Yeah, I'm here," the shadow answered. The voice was soft, feminine, and sweetly southern like the accents Rick used to hear at home.

The door to the greenhouse swung open a moment later and a pretty woman stepped out, shedding a pair of dirty gardening gloves. She was thin and lanky, the overalls she wore gaping around her hips, one strap broken and hanging loose against her dirt-smudged tank top. Her hair was honey colored but streaked with a brighter sun-kissed blonde on top and her skin held an olive tan, no doubt from her long hours in the garden.

Rick was distracted by a strangled gasp behind him and his head whipped around to find Daryl looking about ready to pass out right there in the street. All the color had drained from his face and there was a dangerous lean to his posture. His crossbow clattered to the ground and his eyes… Rick thought the only way to describe it was that the man had seen a ghost.

"Daryl?" Rick extended a hand, ready to catch him before he hit the ground, but Daryl didn't seem to register his presence anymore. His eyes were glued to the woman in front of them.

Rick looked back to her and was stunned to find a similar look of shock on her face. But while Daryl seemed to be stuck in his stupor, Anna's face broke out in a wide, toothy grin. "Baby!" she all but screamed and launched herself at Daryl.

For his part, Daryl seemed to snap out of it just in time and caught the woman in his arms, wrapping his hands around her thighs as she circled her legs around his waist like they'd done it a million times before. They were both crying, sobbing actually, and Rick looked away to give them some privacy. Deanna caught his eyes with a questioning look but he could only shrug with his own bewilderment.

"Is this real? You really here?" Daryl's voice was rough, like he'd just smoked a whole pack of Marlboro's back to back.

"Yeah, baby, I'm really here," was the answer.

Rick and Deanna politely moved a few paces further away as the two kissed, Rick chuckling and giving Deanna a sheepish smile. This was it. This was why they pushed on, why through all the horrors and pain, they persevered. For moments like this.

"Rick," Daryl said a few minutes later, when he and Anna broke apart and seemed to remember the rest of the world.

His arm was thrown around her shoulders and the woman clung to him, fitting into his side like she belonged there. They were both grinning like idiots and their happiness was contagious. Rick couldn't remember ever seeing Daryl smile, _really_ smile, and the sight made the permanent weight on Rick's shoulders feel just a bit lighter for the moment.

"I want to introduce you to my wife," Daryl said, beaming proudly, "Anna Dixon."

* * *

Thanks for reading! This is going to be a short, three parter. Just something that came to me. Reviews are always appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't know what they are called, the spaces between seconds– but I think of you always in those intervals."

― Salvador Plascencia, _The People of Paper_

* * *

It didn't feel real. Couldn't be. Miracles just didn't happen to Daryl Dixon. But there she was, standing there in dirty overalls, her hair piled in a mess on her head, just like the day he'd met her. Granted, she'd been much smaller then, just a scrawny little kid. They both were. She had appeared out of no where, a fishing pole in one hand and a bucket of worms in the other, scaring him half to death with the timid, "Hi," that broke the silence of the morning. Daryl had jumped so high he'd damn near dropped his own pole in the creek.

Daryl thought about that day as he stood swaying on his feet, knowing the ghost before him would dissolve any minute and he'd be plunged back into the hell that was the world without Anna. He thought about how they'd sat on the bank of that creek all morning and every morning after that 'til school started again. He thought about the day her daddy had taught her to ride a bike and she'd ridden it so proudly through the trail in the woods to the Dixon trailer, only to hit a rut from his daddy's truck and fly head first over the handle bars. Daryl had cleaned up her scrapes and dried her tears, telling her to "stop bein' such a girl."

He remembered the day she got her first training bra, how she came up the path pulling at it with a scowl on her face and he'd teased her mercilessly 'til she cried and threw a rock at his head. She'd actually managed to hit him for once and she laughed until she saw the blood trickling down his forehead. She'd felt so guilty that she dragged him back to her house where her momma patched him up and gave them lemonade and cookies. Later, in the woods, she kissed the mark she'd left on his forehead and then, after a moment's consideration, pressed her lips to his. His whole face had turned bright red. It was his first kiss, hers too, and it was only the beginning of many firsts they had shared.

After the end of the world, those memories were painful, unbearable even, and Daryl worked hard not to think about them. It was a battle, only every moment he drew breath. And now they were all there at once, a deluge flooding his brain.

At sixteen, taking her muddin' in the old Dodge truck he'd bought with the few hundred bucks he'd managed to scrape together doing odd jobs around town. Holding her in the bed of that truck as they made love for the first time, all clumsy and awkward and wonderful. The moonlight on her hair the nights they snuck off to the pond to go skinny dippin'. Saving damn near every penny he made for a year at the mechanic's shop to buy her a ring. Shaking so bad as he asked her daddy for her hand, knowing he wasn't good enough and knowing her daddy knew it, too. Shaking even worse as he got down on one knee on the bank of that ol' creek. The way Anna glowed in a white sundress and flowers in her hair the day they walked to the courthouse.

How she'd made their shitty little cabin in the woods a home, hanging curtains and pictures, putting flowers out on the table. How she lost her damn mind every Christmas, decorating every inch of their place in lights and garland, dragging him out to cut down their own tree. The way she curled into him on cold winter mornings, begging him to stay with her just five more minutes.

Daryl looked at Anna, at her smiling face, her sun kissed skin, and waited for it all to fall away, for whatever this cruel trick was to be revealed. But then she bounced on her toes and squealed, "Baby!" and she was in his arms again. Like she'd never left.

Her legs snaked around his waist and he held her there, firm and real in his arms, and he remembered. He remembered the day it all went to shit. He remembered his panic when it was time for him and Merle to get the fuck out of dodge but Anna was two states away, in a hospital in Raleigh with her dying grandma. He remembered the call that came as he was speeding down the interstate, hell bent on making it to North Carolina. How clear her voice was, calm and reserved as she told him not to come, don't risk it, don't waste his time. The hospital was already in chaos and from her hiding place, she said she could hear the army moving through the corridors, shooting anything that moved. He remembered pulling over as her voice finally broke, telling him she loved him more than anything, that he'd been the best part of her life, that he was her best friend. He remembered throwing his phone to the pavement, smashing it into pieces when he heard a crash over the line followed by Anna's screams and a single gunshot.

"Is this real? You really here?"

"Yeah, baby, I'm really here." She nodded, smiling even as the tears streamed down her cheeks. She cupped his face in her hands and ran her fingers through the hair that was so much longer than she'd ever seen it.

Daryl didn't care how she'd made it out. There would be time, later, to share their stories. Right now she was a living, breathing miracle in his arms and she was crying and he was crying and he just needed to kiss her.

Daryl crashed his lips to hers and groaned at the sweet release. Her lips were softer than ever, sweet and desperate and she clung to him like he'd disappear. For a moment, the years melted away and they were just kids again, makin' out to a symphony of crickets in the back of an old Dodge truck under the stars.

They pulled apart to breathe and Daryl buried his face in her neck, taking a long whiff of her. She still smelled the same, that sweet earthy scent he'd known damn near all his life. "I missed you. So fuckin' much" he said in her ear.

She was shaking so he sat her on her feet and pulled her to his chest. "Me too," she whispered, her voice breaking.

Later they would need to say all the unspoken things. She would tell him where she'd been, how long she'd been in Alexandria, why she hadn't returned to Georgia. He would tell her about Merle, about the farm and the prison, Beth, Terminus. He didn't dread it. There was no one else in the world he would share his story with, no one else who could ease his burdens and soothe his troubled mind. Daryl hadn't let himself think it, hadn't really believed it could be true, but in this moment, with his girl in his arms again, he thought maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be all right.

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Thanks for taking the time to read and review! I hope you all enjoy. :) One more chapter to go, this one will be from Anna's POV.


	3. Chapter 3

At no time over the past two years had Anna thought her husband was dead. Not even for a minute. If anyone could survive this hell-on-earth, it was Daryl fucking Dixon. Anna knew her man, knew that he was better equipped than most to handle the world the way it was now. She may have doubted that she would ever see him again, but she never doubted that he'd survived, that he was still out there somewhere. So she wasn't surprised, really, when she'd turned to find him standing there. Relieved? Yes. Overjoyed, elated, euphoric? Absolutely. Surprised? No.

He was filthy, like most survivors who'd been on the road a while. He looked older too, so much older than the two years they'd been apart. There were dark circles under his eyes, worry lines that hadn't been there before, and she could see a little gray in his scruffy facial hair. But he had never looked so handsome.

He'd introduced her to the man he was with, "Rick" she vaguely remembered. It was hard to concentrate with Daryl so close, his deep voice in her ear, his arm (...his unbelievably muscular arm...) around her shoulders. They'd exchanged some quick pleasantries and no one was surprised when she dragged Daryl off of the tour to have him to herself.

She could feel his eyes on her the whole walk to her house. They didn't speak; the things that needed to be said were too heavy to be uttered in the open street. Instead they walked in silence, fingers laced together, Anna trying desperately to calm her pounding heart. Part of her wanted nothing more than to drag Daryl upstairs to her room and do what they did best, what she'd dreamed and fantasized about, what her body had ached for in his absence. But she knew she couldn't. Not right now. It would be selfish.

The steps to her front porch appeared quicker than seemed possible and she stopped short. She suddenly felt like she was standing on a ledge and she knew once she stepped off, everything would change. Daryl halted beside her, looking down at her with a silent question. Anna returned his gaze, staring up into his eyes, finding fear and uncertainty in the deep blue hue.

"Sit with me," she said softly, pulling him down to the steps with her.

Daryl adjusted himself next to her on the top step. He glanced behind them at the house and then back down at Anna. She knew he was confused, wondering why she hadn't taken him inside. She also knew, having known this man almost her entire life, that he was probably jumping to all sorts of conclusions. Doubting himself. Doubting her. She could see it easily and it made her frown. He hadn't changed; he still carried the scars - both visible and not - that Will Dixon had given him. With a sigh she ran her hand across his forehead, pushing aside the dark locks of hair, and trailed her fingers down his cheek.

"What is it?" he breathed, his voice strained.

Anna swallowed and stepped off the ledge. "I never went back to Georgia. I didn't look for you. I didn't even try," she began, the shame and regret hanging heavy in her words.

But Daryl shrugged it off. "Wouldn't have found me anyway. Better you got to safety."

"I wanted to look for you. I wanted to so bad…" Her voice broke and she looked away to blink back her tears. The decision had almost killed her and it had eaten away at her soul every day since.

"Hey." His arms were suddenly around her and he crushed her to his chest. "It's OK. It ain't your fault. We're here now, ain't we?"

She pulled back so she could look into his eyes. "I didn't have a choice. I would have come, but I really didn't have a choice." She needed him to understand. It would destroy her if he hated her for her decision.

In an instant Daryl's face changed and she could feel his muscles tense under her hands. "What happened?" he practically growled. "Did someone-"

Anna shook her head frantically, even as she smirked. She couldn't help it. She'd almost forgotten how quickly his moods could change, how fiercely protective he was. "No. No. Nothing like that." He seemed to relax a bit. "I wanted to try to make it back to Georgia. I knew you thought I was gone and it was killing me. But I had to make a choice. I had to make the safer choice. A soldier at the hospital took pity on me, he let me and a few others escape. One of the orderlies, he said his family had found shelter near D.C. It was the hardest thing I've ever done."

"It's OK. I've seen some shit. Glad you weren't there for it."

"No. You don't understand."

"Then explain it. You ain't makin' sense, woman."

Anna clasped Daryl's hands between her own and stared down at where they joined. With a heavy breath she said, "I was three months pregnant. When everything started."

He went deathly still. It didn't even look like he was breathing. His eyes were wide, his jaw slightly slack. Anna rushed to explain further, babbling, stumbling over her words. "I-I was going to tell you when I got back from Raleigh. I just wanted to be sure first. But then everything went to shit. When we spoke, I thought I was never getting out of that hospital. I didn't want to burden you with… I wanted to spare you the added grief."

Daryl still sat in stunned silence until finally he blinked. Once. Twice. He gently pulled his hands from hers and ran them over his face. After a torturous silence, he looked at her again with tears in his eyes., "Did you… Did… Is it…" His voice was so soft, almost inaudible, and he was having a hard time finding his words. But Anna knew what he was trying to ask.

She stood and reached down for his hand. "Come with me," she said, pulling him to his feet.

Inside, Mrs. Craddock was perched at the kitchen island, nursing a cup of tea and working in her crossword book. She looked up, surprised, when she saw Anna.

"You're home early," she said, sounding pleasantly surprised. Then her eyes landed on Daryl.

"Mrs. Craddock, this is my husband, Daryl," Anna explained quickly, before the older lady could jump to her own conclusions. Mrs. Craddock had been in the safe zone since the beginning and consequently still had the mindset of the old world. Anna knew what she and Daryl looked like to outsiders; they had dealt with the sideways looks their whole lives. Thankfully, Mrs. Craddock seemed nothing but overjoyed at the revelation. Her face lit up and she clasped her hands over her chest as tears sprang to her eyes.

"Oh my goodness! Bless your hearts! What a happy day!"

"Yes, a wonderful day," Anna tried to be polite, but she was anxious and she could feel that Daryl was, too.

Mrs. Craddock knew it and with a nod and some dramatic hand-flapping to quell her happy tears she pointed them upstairs. Anna gave her a grateful smile and Daryl nodded at the emotional woman before they headed up the steps.

At the top of the landing, Anna could hear the familiar coos and gurgles from the nursery and she picked up her pace. Inside, she found her happy toddler standing up in the crib, arms extended over the bars and little fingers reaching out eagerly for her.

"Ma! Ma!"

"There she is! There's my sweet girl!" Anna cooed, scooping the child up in her arms. Her little head swiveled around immediately, thoughts of her mother gone once she noticed the man in the doorway.

Daryl stood at the threshold, eyes locked on the little girl in Anna's arms. His expression was blank and for a brief moment Anna was worried he wasn't happy at the news. But then their daughter beamed at him, that wonderful, sweet smile that disarmed everyone blessed enough to see it, and she squealed, "Da!"

Daryl broke out of his trance and in two strides he was beside them, lowering his crossbow to the floor and carefully pulling the little girl into his arms. She went happily, giggling and clinging to him and Anna was glad she had managed to save a picture of Daryl and showed it to their child every day of her life. He wasn't a stranger. She knew him.

"This is Fiona," Anna said softly.

"Hi, Fiona," Daryl whispered.

"Hi," she replied in her tiny voice and laid her head on his chest, just under his chin. He hugged her to him as tears slipped silently down his cheeks. Anna's heart melted. She wished she could keep this moment forever, put it in a box and take it out and look at it whenever she wanted.

That night, after the beautiful chaos of the day had wound down and Fiona was sleeping peacefully in her crib, Anna watched from bed as her husband carefully propped his loaded crossbow by the bedside table, just within arm's reach. She watched as he shrugged out of his vest and sat at the edge of the bed to remove his boots. It was a scene she'd watched hundreds of times, but she couldn't remember ever being so happy to see it before.

"Still don't seem real," Daryl spoke over his shoulder as he dropped his second boot to the floor.

Anna smiled. She knew exactly how he felt. She crawled out of the covers to snuggle his back. "Feels like I'm gonna wake up and it'll all have been a dream," she whispered.

"But it ain't."

"No. It ain't a dream. You're here. And I'm here." She punctuated every sentence with a kiss, her hands exploring the muscular arms that had developed so much in their time apart. He'd been living hard, that was for sure. She knew he'd been through much worse than she'd experienced. He'd tell her about all of it, she knew, but right now she just wanted to make him forget.

It seemed like Daryl was on the same page and they didn't waste any time. There was nothing slow or gentle about it. Every touch, every breath was desperate and neither of them lasted very long. But it was perfect. It was them. They laid tangled together in the sheets for long time after and whispered to each other like they did when they were kids.

Anna told him about her journey to Alexandria and the kind people who'd risked, and in some cases lost, their lives to get her and her unborn child to the safety of the walls. Daryl told her what it had taken him to get there, everyone he'd lost, everything he'd seen and done. Without having to ask, she knew it was the first time he'd spoken of any of it. She listened silently as he laid down his burdens and gripped his hand tight between her own when he told her about the little girl, Sophia, and what had happened to her. She listened as he told her how her brother-in-law had cut off his own hand on a hot rooftop in Atlanta and cried when he told her how he'd died. She cried a lot as he spoke, silently sobbing for him, clinging to his arm, burying her face in chest. He'd been through hell but in the end he was here with her where he belonged.

They fell asleep in each other's arms and when Anna woke a few hours later to Fiona's cries, Daryl was already halfway out of bed. "Go back to sleep," he said with a kiss to her forehead, "I got this."

* * *

So that's it! Short and sweet! Thanks to everyone for reading! Sorry it's taken me so long to finish this. I had planned to have it done in a few days but the short and long of it is that my dog got sick and then very quickly declined to the point we had to put him down. I was kind of a wreck and all my creativity seemed to have left with him. But we're adjusting to life now without our sweet boy and we just got a new puppy, which is another reason I haven't been able to finish this! She's a total spaz! I would really like to do a full length story about Daryl & Anna if I have the time. Would anyone be interested? Let me know! And thanks again for R&R!


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